Regrettably, neither Pete Myers nor Sean English are now available for this meeting. Pete having temporarily taken over as Head of Trains and Stations in the East Region of Northern. Grand Central will however be represented instead by Programme Manager Chris Brandon, so we shall continue with the theme of ‘What next for the Coastline’. Meanwhile Northern have supplied answers to some of the topics we had asked about. Of particular interest are
Programme for introducing fully-refurbished trains to the Coast Line – or, better still, totally new rolling-stock – The refurbished units are in the North East as we speak with more and more units being refurbished every day. We are also continuing to train our conductors and drivers on our 158 units which are coming to the North East. You should see these in action by January. These will also in time see a full refurbishment.
Provision of step-free access to Billingham station – As part of the Government’s Inclusive Transport Strategy announced 25th July 2018, further funding up to £300m has been secured to continue with the Access for All Programme to make railway stations accessible. We have submitted a paper about Billingham station to Network Rail in relation to the Access for All scheme and we will keep you updated on the progress of this.